Company: Soft Robotics

Website: www.softroboticsinc.com

Equipment Snapshot: Soft Robotics Inc. has announced its launch of SoftAI Solutions incorporating proprietary 3D vision, artificial intelligence software, and industry-proven soft grasping to address the most pressing problem plaguing the food industry—the inability to meaningfully automate operations.

SoftAI changes the game by augmenting traditional industrial robots with true hand-eye coordination unlocking their use in most labor dependent processes. This technological innovation will finally drive broad scale adoption of automation resulting in a more resilient food supply chain that produces safer products at higher volumes with reduced waste and lower operational costs. 

"The food industry is critically dependent on labor to meet its production goals," said Mark Chiappetta, COO at Soft Robotics. "But challenges with workforce availability and productivity, tightening food safety regulations, and global health crises have illuminated the need to break this dependency. SoftAI powered robotic automation is the solution." 

"Robots have been widely adopted across an array of industries resulting in safer working environments, consistently higher quality products and improved economics for operators," said Jeff Beck, CEO at Soft Robotics. "However, robotics adoption in food production operations has been very limited due to technological and sanitation challenges. SoftAI was specifically developed by a team of highly accomplished robotics engineers to solve those challenges. It's ready now to make a real positive difference in the quest to automate food production. We look forward to engaging with food producers and our systems integration partners in this new frontier for robotics."